News
Coastal residents sue L.A. over massive sewage spill into Santa Monica Bay
Los Angeles Times – January 5
More than 100 people living in and around El Segundo on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the city of Los Angeles accusing it of exposing them to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas and other dangers during and after a sewage spill last year at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant. In July 2021, a backup caused by debris forced officials to use an emergency discharge procedure, sending a flood of raw sewage into Santa Monica Bay. The lawsuit alleges that “responsible monitoring would have identified both the volume and source of any debris before it reached Hyperion” and that officials have yet to identify either.
Interior: U.S. has twice as many abandoned oil and gas wells as previously thought
The Hill – January 5
The U.S. has more than double the amount of abandoned oil and gas wells than previously thought, according to a preliminary analysis by the Interior Department (DOI). In a memo released on Wednesday, DOI said there are currently more than 130,000 documented abandoned, or orphaned, wells. An earlier report from 2019 documented 56,600 orphaned wells across 30 states. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed into law in November includes $4.7 billion to restore and plug orphaned wells. Since then, 26 states, including California, have submitted notices of intent to apply for the grants, according to the memo.
Low numbers of baby salmon portend disaster for endangered California fish
San Francisco Chronicle – January 5
According to a report from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife made public on Monday, alarmingly low numbers of baby salmon are surviving their journey down the Sacramento River to the sea, confirming conservationists’ fears that low flows and high river temperatures during the drought would wipe out most of the endangered winter-run salmon born last year. The report concludes that only 2.6% of the eggs that winter-run chinook salmon laid in the Sacramento River resulted in fry, or inch-long baby salmon. Critics blame the die-off on the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s temperature control plan, which is used to determine the timing and flow of water out of Shasta Dam and therefore the temperature of the river at critical stages.
California adopts mandatory water restrictions
Associated Press – January 5
For the second time in a decade, Californians will face mandatory restrictions governing their outdoor water use as the state endures another drought and voluntary conservation efforts have fallen short. The rules adopted on Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board are fairly mild — no watering lawns for 48 hours after a rainstorm or letting sprinklers run onto the sidewalk — and could take effect as soon as the end of the month. Despite a rainy December, significant parts of the state’s water system are still under stress from the extremely dry conditions earlier in 2021 that dropped many of California’s largest reservoirs to record and near-record lows.
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